The problem with that is that people will always then just veto any map that comes up that isn't Rag or Haven on the first round. I don't see it really fixing much.

Then there only a 1 in 4 (currently, pre-DLC) chance that the next map will be Haven, say. It still allows the option for a veto if the majority despise that particular map and prevents the Ragnarok/Haven spam we have at the mo.

It's the best available compromise.

@Derblington - Nice ideal, but no one will ever think every map is good in a game. Besides which, Haven and Ragnarok are both decent maps, so that's not the issue.

I miss having multiple game types in a playlist, The Noble map pack playlist in Reach was great for this, as it literally had everything. Slayer, Flag, Assault, Invasion, Snipers. Nice Variety despite only having three maps.

@revan8 Um, no. They said "Spartan Ops are free episodic cooperative content". They never said a price, ever; only, they are free. Oh, and a season is 10 Episodes, not 5. They just plan to have mid-season breaks.

jambii267 wrote:
I miss having multiple game types in a playlist, The Noble map pack playlist in Reach was great for this, as it literally had everything. Slayer, Flag, Assault, Invasion, Snipers. Nice Variety despite only having three maps.

this I agree with I also miss ordinary slayer. why isn't there ordinary slayer? normal team slayer/big team slayer. no ordinance set weapon spawns is all I want for Christmas

SomaticSense wrote:
The story is a damn sight better told than the nonsensical bs that was the main campaign's narrative, which felt at times like a C grade GSCE project...

Rot. I don't care a jot if you hate the SP story, fine by me. But SPops has about as much narrative coherence/purpose etc as a boiled egg sitting in a vacuum.

Halo 3 was also terrific.

It's got nothing to do with whether I personally hate the SP story or not. It was poorly written and relied far too much on the expanded fiction to explain what the hell was going on and how certain characters miraculously knew certain things.

SomaticSense wrote:
It was poorly written and relied far too much on the expanded fiction to explain what the hell was going on and how certain characters miraculously knew certain things.

Halo 3 was just as - if not more - guilty of this. It simply assumed the player knew everything there was to know about the backstory. When I first played it I felt completely lost as I never got round to playing 2 beforehand. It was a constant "why the fuck do I have an Elite friend? Who the fuck is this giant little shop of horrors reject? Who is this prophet bloke" clusterfuck, containing some of the worst SP level design I have ever come across in an FPS that decided Library wasn't bad enough so we should all have to endure Cortana to make up for it.

SomaticSense wrote:
At least the player doesn't feel like they missed the memo in SPops.

I do. There is little narrative coherence between episodes (or even between chapters) and little premise. It also assumes you have gone into it after completing the campaign, meaning spoilers galore. Level design is great, but to say its narrative is better than the campaign is a joke.

nickthegun wrote:
Yeah, I hated return of the king for similar reasons. Having not seen the previous two I was all like "who the fuck are these little gay guys?" and "why are they heading into that volcano?"

Stupid trilogies.

Some effort at getting people up to speed would have been nice.

Luckily now we have Waypoint which does a lot to help people fill in the gaps, but H3 made no effort. Even a condensed recap on the main menu would have been better than nothing. And remember that a lot of people will have bought a 360 back then coming from PS2 rather than Xbox, so for them they weren't so much finishing the fight as just getting involved in it for the first time.